Shoe-sewing machine.



F. N. LA CHAPELLE.

SHOE SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION 1111-10 DEC. 11. 1911.

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 00-. WASHINGTON. D. &

Patented Apr. 4, 1916.

*2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

v F. N. LA CHAPELLE.

SHOE SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-11,1911.

UNITED sTA Es PATENT oEEioE.

ERED N. LA cEArELLE, o EEvERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR To UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PAT'ERSON, NEW JERsEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SHOE-SEWING MACHINE.

Application filed December 11, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known that I, FRED N. LA CHAPELLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Shoe-Sewing Machines; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to Shoe sewing machines, and more particularly to shoe sewing machines which operate to sew the welt to a lasted insole and upper.

In the most common type of commercial welt sewing machines, the stitch is formed by means of a curved hook needle directed forwardly and arranged to enter the welt, pass through the upper and emerge from the channel of the insole. The needle is threaded by means of a thread arm and looper arranged on the opposite side of the work from the needle. The shoe is presented to the machine with the bottom of the last substantially vertical, and is fed and guided through the machine by means of a feed'point or awl which engages in the channel of the lasted insole, and a channel guide which also engages in the channel of the insole. The welt guide is mounted on a welt guide slide and is arranged to present the welt against the upper in a position opposite the channel guide. The welt guide is therefore positioned back of the channel guide, the thread arm and the looper. Since the welt guide is so comparatively inaccessible from the front of the machine, the operator, in removing the shoe after the welt has been sewn, disengages the shoe from the channel.

guide and pulls the shoe a few inches forwardly so that he can reach the welt with his knife and cut the welt close to. the shoe. After the welt is cut, it is then necessary for the operator to draw the extra length of welt which was drawn through the welt guide to allow the removal of the shoe, backwardly through the welt guide, so asnot to waste this length of welt. To draw the weltback through the welt guide takes time and attention on the part of the operator.

Specification of Letters Patent.

7 Patented Apr. 4,1916.

Serial No. 665,070.

The aperture through the welt guide is generally formedlarger 'atthe mouth into which the welt is drawn and smaller at the mouth from which the welt emerges, so that any rough places or splices in the'welt which do not hinder the welt being drawn forwardly through the guide may, nevertheless, cause the operator considerable trouble in drawing the welt back through the welt guide.

One object of the present invention is to provide a sewing machine in which the welt guide may be moved bodily forward into a position where the operator can cut the welt close to the welt guide without being hindered by the other parts of the machine, so

that the welt, as cut, projects forwardly from the weltv guide only sufficiently to be engaged by the needle when the next shoe is to be sewn, and the operator is relieved 'of the necessity of pulling the welt back with substantial accuracy in the patent to French and Meyer, No. 412,704, October 8, 1889. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention is equally applicable to other types of sewing machines and can be otherwise embodied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings :Figure 1 is a side elevation of the head of the machine; Fig. 2 is v a sideview of the welt guide slide in position on the machine; Fig. 3 is a section view of the welt guide slide; and Fig. 1 is a cross section taken on th'eline H of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, 2 indicates the curved hook needle, 4 the channel guide, 6

the feed point'orfawl, 8 the looper, 10 the thread arm, 12 the takeup, and 14 the slid ing back gage; These parts are constructed and arranged to operate: substantially as described in the above mentioned patent to as applied to the well known Goodyear welt and turn sewing machine which is described; i

opposite the channel guide 4;, and like the volt guide in the French and Meyer machine, is arranged to measure the welt and present it against the upper of a lasted shoe in position to be sewn by the needle. The welt guide 16 is formed on the front end of a welt guide arm 18 which is mounted on a p v welt guide slide 1nd1cated generally by reference numeral 20. The welt guide slide 20 consists of two bars 22 and 2 1 which are slidable relatively to each other. The bar 22 has a substantially U-shaped section and is mounted to slide in a slot 26 formed in the side of the machine frame. The bar 24 is arranged to slide in the slotted side of the bar The composite welt guide slide 20 is held in the frame of the machine by two plates 28 and 80 screwed to the sideof the machine frame. The welt guide arm 18 is pivotally mounted on the front end of the bar 22 by means of a stud 32 journaled therein. On the end of the stud 32 is clamped a rearwardly extending slotted plate 34. The slot 36 in the plate 34 is arranged to receive a lug 40 formed on the bar 24. The forward end of the slot 36 is recessed at 42 on its upper side to form a locking recess in which the lug 40 is held to lock the bars 2:2 and 52 1- together. During the normal sewing operation of the machine, the welt guide 16 is held opposite the channel guide t and the lug 40 is held in the locking recess 42 by means of the spring pressed plunger 14 which is mounted on the plate 80 and bears against the upper edge of the slotted plate 84:. V

During the cycle of stitch forming operations of the machine when the needle is drawing back the loop of thread through the work, the welt guide is locked against the work by means of the pawl 46 which engages backward facing ratchet teeth 48 formed on the top of a plate 50 which is secured to the bar by means of the positioning pins 52 and clamping screw 54. The locking pawl 46 is actuated in timed relation to the other parts of the machine in substantially the same manner as the look ing pawl in the machine described in the above mentioned French and Meyer patent.

After the needle has drawn the loop of thread through the work, the feed point and channel guide act to feed and guide the work from right to left in the machine. The locking pawl 16 is raisedbefore the feeding movement takes place and simultaneously with the feeding of the work the welt guide is retracted from the surface of the work to measure the welt. The means for retracting the welt guide comprise a pawl 56 formed on the end of an arm 58 whichis pivotally mounted on the lower end of a cam actuated lever 60. A helical spring 62 connected between the pin 64 on the lever 60 and a pin 66 on the forward end of the arm 58-tends to press the pawl 60 into engagement with forwardly facing ratchet forwardly, it is lifted from engagement with the ratchet teeth 68, and during the backward movement of the pawl 56 it will not engage the teeth 68 until it has passed off the rear end of the shield 70. The shield 70 is mounted on the lug 72 formed on the plate 30 and is provided with a pin 74: and slot 76 adjustment so that the amount of movement of the pawl 60 after it has passeo. off the rear end of the shield 76 may be adjusted to vary the amount of retractive movement imparted to the welt guide slide 20 and welt guide 16 in measuring the welt. The lug 72 lies in the path of the upper part of the plate 50 and acts as a stop to limit the forward movement of the welt guide. After the pawl 56 is moved back to retract the welt guide and measure the welt, it moved forwardly to allow the welt guide to be pressed against the welt. hen the pawl 56 rides up over the rear end of the shield 70, the welt guide slide 20 is free to move forwardly and is drawn forward by means of the helical spring 78 which is connected between the end of the screw 5 1- and a hook 80 on the lower end of the lever 60. Since the pawl 56 is moved a predetermined distance back of the shield 70 to retract the welt guide, and since the tooth of the ratchet 68 which is engaged by the pawl 56 is de termined by the position of the welt guhie slide 20, it will be evident that the welt guide slide 20 will be moved rearwardly and the welt guide 16 drawn from the work a predetermined distance independently of whether the work be thick or thin. Since the welt guide 16 is always retracted the same distance in measuring the welt, a pre determined length of welt is measured otl' independently of the thickness of the work. After the spring 78 has pressed tne welt guide against the shoe, the pawl 48 locks the welt guide in position, the needle penetrates the work, is looped and draws a loop of thread backwardly through the work,

and the cycle of stitch forming operations pawl 56 retracts the welt guide downwardly on the welt and turns the arm 18 downwardly, whereupon the plate 34 is raised until the recess 42 is freed of the lug 40. Then the operator pulls the shoe forwardly from the machine. Since the downward movement of the welt guide arm 18 has unlocked the bar 22 from the bar 24 which is held back by the pawl 56, the operator can pull the welt guide forward until it is clear of the channel guide, the thread arm and the looper, as indicated by the dotted line position of the welt guide in Fig. 2. This gives the operator an unobstructed space to run his knife beween the lasted shoe and the welt guide to out olf the welt as close to the shoe and as close to the welt guide as he desires. After the welt is cut, the welt guide 16 is relieved of the forward pull of the welt and is drawn back by a comparatively weak long helical spring 82 which extends through a slot 84 in the side of the bar 24 between a pin 86 on the bar 24 and a pin 88 on the bar 22. After the spring 82 has drawn back the bar 22, the plunger 44 pressing downwardly on top of the plate 34 serves to snap the locking recess 42 over the lug 40 so that the welt guide is automatically retracted and restored to its normal position opposite the channel guide 4. The left-hand end of the slot 36, as viewed in Fig. 2, engages the lug 40 when the welt guide 16 is pulled to its extreme forward position and acts as a limiting stop. In Fig. 3, the welt guide 16 is shown as pulled forwardly and a short length of welt pulled from the welt guide plreparatory to cutting the welt from the sioe.

It is evident that since the welt guide is drawn forwardly, free of all parts of the machine which would interfere with the cutting knife of the operator, the welt can be trimmed as close to the welt guide as may be desired so that after the welt is cut the machine is ready to sew the welt on to another shoe without the necessity of the operator drawing any welt back through the guide to save the welt or leaving more welt than is needed projecting through the guide when the next shoe is sewn and so wasting the welt.

During the normal stitch forming operations of the machine, the bars 22 and 24 are locked together so that the welt guide slide 20 is retracted and pressed forwardly like an integral slide bar, and it is only when the sewing operation is finished and it is desired to pull the welt guide forwardly that the bar 22 is unlocked from the bar 24 and the slide 20 separated into two relatively sliding bars, so that the welt guide is permitted to move forward from its normal position and follow the shoe when it is removed from the machine.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been specifically illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the present invention may be embodied in other forms of construction within the purview of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

I claim: l. A shoe sewing -machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, a member engaging the channel of a lasted insole, a welt guide normally positioned opposite said channel engaging member to present the welt to the lasted upper and insole during the sewing operation, and means for-supporting the welt guide arranged to permit the entire welt guide to move bodily from its position opposite the channel engaging member and follow the shoe when it is removedifrom the machine to allow the operator to cut the welt close tothe welt guide. 2. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work including a feed point and a channel guide, a welt guide normally positioned behind and opposite the channel guide to present the welt to the lasted upper and insole during the sewing operation, and welt guide supporting means including a welt guide slide arranged to permit the entire welt guide to be moved bodily forward from its position opposite the channel guide and to be drawn forwardly in front of and beyond the channel guide to allow the operator to cut the welt close to the weltguide.

3. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, a welt guide for presenting the welt to a lasted shoe, and means for allowing the welt to be easily cut close to the welt guide including a welt guide slide arranged to permit the entire welt guide to bodily follow the shoe forward from the position in which it presents the welt to the shoe during the sewing opera tion. 7

4. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, a welt guide for presenting the weltto a lasted shoe, means for supporting the welt guide arranged to permit the entire welt guide to move bodily forwardly beyond the position in which it presents the welt to the shoe during the sewing operation to allow the operator to cut the welt close to the welt guide, and means for automatically retracting the welt guide after the welt is cut.

5. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, a welt guide for present iso ing the welt to a lasted shoe, a welt guide slide comprising two relatively movable bars upon one of which the welt guide is mounted, means acting on the second of said bars for retracting the slide to cause the welt guide to measure the welt, and means for normally locking said bars together arranged to be unlocked to permit the first member to move forwardly and to permit the welt guide to follow the shoe when it is removed from the machine so that the operator may cut the welt after the shoe has been removed from the machine.

6. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, a welt guide for presenting the welt to a lasted shoe, a welt guide slide comprising two relatively movable bars upon one of which the welt guide is mounted, means acting on the second of said bars for retracting the slide to cause the welt guideto measure the welt, means for normally locking said bars together arranged to be unlocked to permit the first member to move forwardly and to permit the welt guide to follow the shoe when it is removed from the machine so that the operator may cut the welt after the shoe has been removed from the machine, and means acting automatically to retract said first-named bar after the welt has been cut to permit the locking means to lock said members together.

7. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, a welt guide for presenting thewelt to a lasted shoe, means for supporting the welt guide arranged to permit the entire welt guide to move bodily forwardly and follow the shoe when it is removed from the machine so that the operator may cut the welt after the shoe has been removed from the machine.

8. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a look needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, and a welt guide for presenting the welt to a lasted shoe, the entire welt guide being arranged to be drawn bodily by the pull of the welt from its normal position in which it presents the welt to the shoe during the sewing operation and follows the shoe to a position in which the operator may more easily cut the welt.

9. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work, a welt guide for presenting the welt to a lasted shoe arranged to move with the shoe after the sewing operation is completed from its normal position in which it presents the welt to the shoe during the sewing operation to a position in which the operator may more easily cut the welt, and means for restoring the welt guide to its normal position after the welt is cut.

10. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work including a feed point and a channel guide, a welt guide normally positioned opposite the channel guide for presenting the welt to a lasted shoe, a welt guide slide comprising two relatively sliding bars upon one of which the welt guide is mounted, means acting on the second of said bars for retracting and advancing the welt guide slide to properly present the welt to the shoe during the sewing operation, and means for locking said bars together arranged to be unlocked when the shoe is disengaged from the channel guide to permit the welt guide to move forwardly and to follow the shoe when it is removed from the machine so that the operator may cut the welt after the shoe is removed from the machine.

11. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the work including a feed point and a channel guide, a welt guide normally positioned opposite the channel guide f r presenting the welt to a lasted shoe, a welt guide slide comprising two relatively sliding bars upon one of which the welt guide is mounted, means acting on the second of said bars for retracting and advancing the welt guide slide to properly present the welt to the shoe during the sewing operation, means for locking said bars together arranged to be unlocked when the shoe is disengaged from the channel guide to permit the welt guide to move forwardly and to follow the shoe when it is removed from the machine so that the operator may cut the welt after the shoe is removed from the machine, and means acting automatically to retract the welt guide to allow said bars to be locked together.

12. A shoe sewing machine, having, in combination, stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle, means for feeding and guiding the welt to the work including a member engaging the channel of a lasted insole, a welt guide for presenting the welt to a lasted insole and upper, a welt guide slide comprising two relatively sliding bars, an arm pivotally mounted on one of said bars and bearing the welt guide, a spring acting to normally hold the said arm elevated to position the welt guide opposite the channel engaging member to present the welt to the lasted upper and insole but allowing said arm to be depressed when the shoe is disengaged from the channel engaging member, means for locking the two bars together when the Welt guide is opposite the out the Welt after the shoe is removed from chzinneldengaging memlber aaranged to dbe the machine. 7 e

un ooke When the We t ui e arm is epressed to permit the first ioar to move rela- LA CHAPELLE' tively to the second bar and permit the Welt Witnesses:

guide to follow the shoe When it is removed CHESTER E. Rooms,

from the machine so that the operator may LAURA M. GOODRIDGE.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

